Politics & Government

Legislators: We Need Data to Advocate Effectively

A round table discussion was split along party lines, but everyone agreed that to make sure Racine Unified gets what it needs, officials need information.

Legislators for the Racine Unified community met with school board members and lead administration Thursday to talk about the future of funding for the district.

Democratic Representatives Cory Mason (Racine) and Peter Barca (Kenosha) were joined by state Sen. Bob Wirch, D-Kenosha, and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Burlington, at the RUSD administrative offices for what BOE member Pam Handrow called an informal conversation to talk about funding for education, especially for RUSD.

Some of the conversation was clearly divided along party lines with the Democrats calling Gov. Scott Walker's budget "wrong-headed" and Vos defending it. There was also talk about vouchers and whether or not they're really harming the district, with the party lines sharply drawn again.

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But, when it came down to it, Legislators really wanted to know how they could best advocate for the district in Madison.

"This is an important topic because the future of our economy rests on the education we're providing," Barca noted.

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Mason, in particular, wants specifics on how the loss of funding from the state - from general and categorical aids and vouchers as well - effects Racine Unified.

"We don't know where you're short on the categorical aids - I don't think anyone has this information - for what will help close the achievement gap," he said. "I need a better connection between the resources I can go fight for and how that would potentially impact the achievement gap."

Vos asked for specifics, too, and told district leaders he wants to hear about things that might seem a little unusual.

"I'd like to know how it could impact your budget to have energy performance contract savings go for debt service," he said. "I want to know about things that could help Racine Unified that are outside the norm."

According to the RUSD website, performance contracts use realized savings to pay for the contract over a period of time. The contracts guarantee a certain level of savings. Vos' suggestion would instead allow the district to use those savings to pay down debt.

Superintendent Ann Laing said what the district needs is an understanding of the challenges it faces because 3,800 of its 21,000 children are special needs, 2,800 or so of them with moderate to severe needs, which cost a lot of money. Voucher schools are not required to provide those services and instead, that burden falls back on the district.

"The truth is that educating every child - which is what public schools are mandated to do - costs money because there are services we have to provide no matter what," she said.

Mark Duff, budget manager for Racine Unified, broke it down into simple terms.

"The truth is that if you strip away the Title money and special education, public schools spend the same amount of money per pupil as a private school does," he said. "It's when you take into account the special needs that spending starts to rise."

In the end, lawmakers agreed they need a closer relationship with the district, with Vos saying he would love to have monthly meetings with RUSD leaders.

"We need to know the data so we know what resources you need to close the achievement gap," Mason added. "Without that we don't know how to advise or to help you because kids aren't widgets. They're all different and some of them have challenges. We need to know these things to truly advocate for you."


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